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Thoughts on Burnout...(and why I'm taking a step back from photography)

About 90%
of my blog traffic comes from my family, friends, & Facebook friends.
That being said, I’m using this post as a platform so that everyone
can hear read the same story.

I've had quite a few requests for photo sessions in these last few weeks, and I
feel SO bad saying "no". So I’m writing this post to help my
lovely clients understand why I am declining their requests until further
notice.

First
off, I don’t even know if can call these people my “clients”. I don’t
have an official photography business, nor did I ever pretend to…

It all
started a few years ago, 2012-2013ish? I took pictures of my sister’s
kids & people asked her who did the photos. She said “my sister”, and
soon after, a few of them started to reach out to me to see if I would take
pictures of their kids. Over time, other family & friends inquired,
and I was happy to provide the service, as it helped me practice my “craft”. Each session I felt a little more comfortable behind my camera. In no
time, I was taking newborn, family, senior, engagement & maternity
photos. I even did a couple weddings (major props to wedding
photographers, this is SOOO stressful)!

Mind you, I had/have no formal photography training. I purchased my first
DSLR in 2011 & am completely self-taught. I shot in auto for a while,
until I wanted more out of my camera & my photos. I wanted my photos
to make people feel & see exactly what I felt & saw when I took the
photo. Auto mode just wasn’t cutting it. So, I read through a few
online tutorials & watched a few YouTube videos & started shooting in
Manuel mode. I had a lot of questions & wasn’t completely
understanding everything, so I took a photography class at NWTC. It was
WONDERFUL & I highly recommend this class to anyone.

After the
class I was thirsty for more knowledge, so I scheduled some one-on-one
mentoring sessions with a couple local photographers whom I admire. My
skills were improving, and pretty quickly, my “clients” started growing beyond
just family & close friends. I was shooting people I’d never met
before & scheduling about 1 session/ week.

This
would have been all fine & well, however I was working a 40 hour/week
daytime job & at that time, was also going to school 2 nights a week to finish
my Bachelor’s Degree. It seemed any free time I had, I was either taking
photos or editing photos. Instead of cuddling up with my husband on the
couch to watch TV in the evenings, I was stuck in front of the computer editing
or doing homework.

Besides
photography becoming a time suck, I was my own worst critic & thought
my photos were just OK... mediocre at best. I started to wonder
if people were booking me because I was cheap, or if they actually
liked my images? Also, I had major computer storage issues. My
CD/DVD burner no longer works - which is how I'd get clients their photos. I don’t know how to use Photoshop or Lightroom & I didn’t
have time to learn it. I still don’t understand some of the technical things, like
aspect ratio & DPI, All of these frustrations were building up, and
by the end of 2015, I was exasperated.

This fall, I turned
down 12 different people asking for sessions because I didn't have any spare time to shoot them...

Photography
was becoming a chore -- a second job -- and I was losing interest.

This
makes meSOsad, because photography used to bring
me such joy. My most favorite thing to do is throw my camera around my
neck & go for a walk in the woods. Or, snap photos candidly, on my own terms. But I wasn’t even finding the time or feeling the itch to do
that...

My mom
gave me a card once that said at lot of really nice, encouraging things,
including something to the likes of“you
can do a lot of things, but you can’t do them all…” I took this piece
of advice to heart & have decided to take some time off of shooting for
other people.

I want to love my hobby again. I never want it to feel like a chore or a
job again. I still love photography; I just want to do it on my terms.

Exactly! No sense in loosing interest in something that you really love just to satisfy others! Every girl needs something that is just for them! And thanks dear! I love doing them, but can't wait for them to be done too! ;)

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photo credit

I photograph all photos for this blog, & I try to be as original in my content as possible, unless otherwise noted. I’m honored if you love my work enough to share it, but please link back to my site when sharing (give credit where credit is due). Any questions regarding reproduction of my images or content, please email me at mydarlingdays(at)gmail(dot)com. Thank you!